François Asselineau (, born 14 September 1957) is a

French politician The politics of France take place with the framework of a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic". ...

and an Inspector General for finances. Asselineau was a member of the

Rally for France The Rally for France (french: Rassemblement pour la France (RPF); also briefly known in 2003 as Rally for France and European Independence or ) was a political party in France of the right. It was founded in 1999 by the Gaullist and former Interi ...

(RPF) and UMP before creating his own

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

the Popular Republican Union (Union Populaire Républicaine or UPR). His movement promotes

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

unilateral __NOTOC__ Unilateralism is any doctrine or agenda that supports one-sided action. Such action may be in disregard for other parties, or as an expression of a commitment toward a direction which other parties may find disagreeable. As a word, ''un ...

withdrawal from the European Union Withdrawal from the European Union is the legal and political process whereby an EU member state ceases to be a member of the Union. Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union ( TEU) states that "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from t ...

, the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. Asselineau has been described as a souverainist but does not self-identify as such. He identifies neither as right-wing nor left-wing.France’s 'Frexit' presidential candidate
''

La Croix La Croix primarily refers to: * ''La Croix'' (newspaper), a French Catholic newspaper * La Croix Sparkling Water, a beverage distributed by the National Beverage Corporation La Croix or Lacroix may also refer to: Places * Lacroix-Barrez, a muni ...

'', 10 March 2017. Asselineau has had a troubled relationship with the media, which he has repeatedly accused of "

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

". In his critique he includes

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has article ...

, which had once considered him insufficiently noteworthy to justify a page in the encyclopedia. The

activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...

of his supporters to try and increase media coverage of Asselineau and the UPR has been noted by some observers., at 2 mn 10" (accessed on October 4th, 2014). He ran in the

2017 French presidential election The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! (EM) and Marine Le Pen of the Nationa ...

, presenting himself as the " Frexit candidate". He was eventually eliminated in the first round, earning 0.92% of the votes. For the 2022 presidential election he failed to secure 500 sponsorships from elected officials in order to run.

Education

Asselineau enrolled in

HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International Fi ...

where he graduated in 1980 with the MSc in Management. He enrolled at the

École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President of France, President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the Constitu ...

(promotion "Léonard de Vinci", 1985).

Career

Asselineau started his career in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the department of economic expansion for National Service Overseas (CSNE). Served in 1985 as

inspector General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...

in the ''

inspection générale des Finances An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity ...

''. From 1989 to 1990, he was

chief of mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, perman ...

for the National Credit. He was also president of the direction of the ''Society for Economical and Financial Analysis and Diagnostic'' (SADEF). In 1991, he became

of the Asia-Oceania office at the ''Direction of Foreign Economical Relation'' (DREE) in the Ministry of Economy and Finance under the

Pierre Bérégovoy Pierre Eugène Bérégovoy (; 23 December 1925 – 1 May 1993) was a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under President François Mitterrand from 2 April 1992 to 29 March 1993. He was a member of the Socialist Party and ...

government. From 1994 to 1995, he served as counsellor for

international affairs International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

in the

Ministry of Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

under the Edouard Balladur government. In June 1995, he was named director of the office of the

Ministry of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many different countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) * Minist ...

. In 1996, he moved to the

ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

, where he was in charge of economic matters for Asia, Oceania and Latin America until the

dissolution of parliament The dissolution of a legislative assembly is the mandatory simultaneous resignation of all of its members, in anticipation that a successive legislative assembly will reconvene later with possibly different members. In a democracy, the new assemb ...

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

in 1997.

Political career

In 1999, François Asselineau got involved in politics by becoming a member of the

(RPF), a party created by

Charles Pasqua Charles Victor Pasqua (18 April 192729 June 2015) was a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's ''cohabitation'' government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government o ...

and

Philippe de Villiers Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.Main Website Retrieved 4 March 2009. He is the founder of the Puy du Fou theme ...

. He became a member of the national bureau, director of studies and

spokesman A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of the party until autumn 2005. On July 27, 2000, he became vice-director of the

general council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...

of the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a Departments of France, département in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner Banlieue, suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the e ...

. He was in charge of economic and international affairs. On May 23, 2001,

nominated François Asselineau as the director of his office of the presidency of the

where he worked until March 30, 2004 when

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

took over the position of

. On October 20, 2004,

appointed Asselineau as the director of the general delegation for economic intelligence within the Minister of Economy and Finance. In November 2006, Asselineau joined the steering committee of ''Rally for an Independent and Sovereign France'' (RIF), a party created by

Paul-Marie Coûteaux Paul-Marie Coûteaux (born 31 July 1956, in Paris) is a French politician and author. He served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2009 for the Movement for France, and since 2022 has been a member of Reconquête. Early life P ...

Municipal councillor

On March 19, 2001, he was elected as a member of the

council of Paris The Council of Paris ( French: ''Conseil de Paris'') is the deliberative body responsible for governing Paris, the capital of France. It possesses both the powers of a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') and those of a departmental counc ...

in the

19th arrondissement of Paris The 19th arrondissement of Paris (''XIXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''dix-neuvième''. The arrondissement, known as Butte-Chaumont, ...

. His list, a right-wing dissident list made with an agreement between

Jean Tiberi Jean Tiberi (born January 30, 1935) is a French politician who was mayor of Paris from May 22, 1995 to March 24, 2001. , he was mayor of the 5th arrondissement of Paris and deputy to the French National Assembly from the second district of Paris ...

and

, was third with 15,78% in a triangular against a

Rally for the Republic The Rally for the Republic (french: Rassemblement pour la République ; RPR ), was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 a ...

(RPR) list and unified left list composed with

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS). His campaign was marked by a radical rhetoric on security, with posters denouncing "six years of socialist laxity", supposed

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

, alleged

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

and an asserted lack of police forces. On December 31, 2004, Asselineau decided to join the group

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Social ...

(UMP) at the

Council of Paris The Council of Paris ( French: ''Conseil de Paris'') is the deliberative body responsible for governing Paris, the capital of France. It possesses both the powers of a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') and those of a departmental counc ...

. On November 3, 2006, he decided to quit the group and seat with the ''non-inscrits'' just after

Françoise de Panafieu Françoise de Panafieu (born 12 December 1948) is a French politician, member of The Republicans (LR) party and mayor of the 17th arrondissement of Paris between 2001 and 2008. Political career De Panafieu was a member of the French Cabinet a ...

, for whom he worked, was elected president of the

for the

(UMP). In September 2007, Asselineau participated in a dissident political group named ''Paris Libre'' with several other ex-UMP members. The group ran several lists against the

(UMP), and Asselineau ran a list in the

17e arrondissement de Paris The 17th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le dix-septième'' (; "the seventeenth"). The arrondissement, known as Batignoll ...

against

. However, he then backtracked, denouncing consequent pressure on the members of his list.

Creation of the UPR

On March 25, 2007, for the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty signature, he created the Popular Republican Union (UPR).

Election results

In January 2011, François Asselineau announced his intention to run for the

2012 French presidential election Presidential elections in France, Presidential elections were held in France on 22 April 2012 (or 21 April in some overseas departments and territories), with a second round Two-round system, run-off held on 6 May (or 5 May for those same territ ...

, and confirmed this intention in December 2011. However, he was only able to garner 17 of the required 500 endorsements from elected politicians necessary to be on the ballot. As a result, Asselineau called for a boycott of the presidential election. Following the Cahuzac affair and the resignation of

Jérôme Cahuzac Jérôme André Cahuzac (; born 19 June 1952) is a French surgeon and former politician who served as Minister of the Budget at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance under President François Hollande from 2012 to 2013. A former member of ...

, for whom Asselineau had worked as a civil servant in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Eco ...

, Asselineau ran for the legislative by-election in Lot-et-Garonne's 3rd constituency, with Régis Chamagne. They failed to reach the second round with a score of 189 votes (0.58%). Asselineau ran for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

as the head of the list for the Île-de-France constituency. He hoped that the UPR's agenda could rally voters disappointed by the current political system. Asselineau complained to the

CSA CSA may refer to: Arts and media * Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television * Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics * Crime Syndicate of Amer ...

for not having had access to mainstream media; he also claimed that the principle of equity for all candidates was actually undermined by the media, that tended to give voice to parties that were already well-known.Yann Thompson
Européennes: la galère des petits candidats

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...

, 21 May 2014 He scored 0.56% of votes cast in his constituency.

Political views

François Asselineau's ' souverainiste' platform has two main targets, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and the United States. He insists that France should leave the

, the European Union, and

.François Asselineau fact sheet
on the website of the French version of the magazine

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

, retrieved on 12 March 2012 According to Asselineau, the EU and NATO "as seen from Washington...are the political and military side of the same coin, that of the enthrallment of the European continent to their 'buffer zone' so as to surround and contain the Russian continental power". He says the process leading to European unification was launched solely upon orders from the American government. Asselineau denies he is a "

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

", preferring to call himself a "euro-atheist".Qui est François Asselineau ?
, ''Valeurs actuelles'', September 22d, 2014 He said on the French TV program ''

On n'est pas couché ''On n'est pas couché'' was a French talk show broadcast on France 2 on Saturdays at 11 p.m. and hosted by Laurent Ruquier. It was produced by Ruquier and Catherine Barma. It first aired on 16 September 2006; after fourteen seasons, it ended on ...

'' that he opposes military intervention in Syria and Iraq. Asselineau claims the 1944

Conseil national de la Résistance The National Council of the Resistance (also, National Resistance Council; in French: ''Conseil National de la Résistance'' (CNR), was the body that directed and coordinated the different movements of the French Resistance: the press, trade uni ...

as the source of inspiration for his presidential program in 2012, including " re-nationalisations" and "quality public services".Ève Moulinier, ''

Le Dauphiné libéré ''Le Dauphiné libéré'' is a provincial daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on local news and events. The paper is published in Grenoble, France. History and profile Founded in 1945, it takes the name from the former province of Da ...

'', 12 February 2012, page 4 Asselineau does not say what should be done about "the major national issues such as

nuclear power in France Since the mid 1980s, the largest source of electricity in France is Nuclear power, with a generation of 379.5 TWh in 2019 and a total electricity production of . In 2018, the nuclear share was 71.67%, the highest percentage in the world. Since ...

, the French

debt crisis Debt crisis is a situation in which a government (nation, state/province, county, or city etc.) loses the ability of paying back its governmental debt. When the expenditures of a government are more than its tax revenues for a prolonged period, th ...

or the decisions to be made about

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

should be addressed through

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

s", "once France has left the European Union". Asselineau opposes French COVID-19 immunity passports. In July 2021, Asselineau tested positive for the disease and advocated the use of Ivermectin as treatment.

Controversies

Accusations of sexual harassement

In May 2020, Asselineau's former driver and press secretary filed a complaint against him for sexual harassement and sexual assault. Another complaint is filed by another former collaborator against Asselineau for psychological and sexual harassement. Since 5 February 2021, Asselineau has been under investigation and placed under judicial supervision for the alleged sexual assault, sexual and moral harassement of two of his former collaborators. He has denied all the allegations made against him.

Electoral performance

References

External links

Blog of François Asselineau
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asselineau, Francois 1957 births Living people Politicians from Paris Politicians of the French Fifth Republic École nationale d'administration alumni HEC Paris alumni Euroscepticism in France Rally for France politicians Popular Republican Union (2007) politicians French conspiracy theorists Candidates in the 2017 French presidential election